Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

The theme of a novel leaves an audience with a message that pertains to everyday life, and some might conjecture that diverting from the main topic ruins the story. Thus, critics often disagree on whether a departure has occurred. In regards to Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, critics that argue for the accord of realism versus romanticism throughout the story correctly interpret the book; whereas, those against fail to see beyond the slight evidence for literary burlesque. Mark Twain utilizes the interaction between Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in the final quarter of the novel to exhibit the contest of realism and romanticism. At the beginning of this section, Finn contrives a simple plan to free Jim, but Sawyer protests saying, “What’s the good of a plan that ain’t no more trouble than that?” (207-208). Finn allows his realistic plan to be thrown away by Sawyer’s romanticism on account of Tom Sawyer knowing more about such things, but the straightforward proposal obviously remains as the wiser choice. Sawyer, showing his romantic outlook, insists that nobility is …show more content…
During one of Sawyer’s ridiculous aspects of Jim’s escape, he finally concedes that case knives would not work for digging, and Finn exclaims, “Now you’re talking... Picks is the thing, moral or no moral…” (219). Realism wins this battle due to the complete ineffectiveness of Tom Sawyer’s idea, and Huck Finn appears ecstatic to find some common sense. The simple effectiveness coinciding with realism endures in its contradiction to romanticism’s frivolity. Scenes similar to this emerge throughout the final quarter of the novel, and each time Sawyer must forsake his romantic ideals in order to surrender to common sense. Because of Tom Sawyer’s proposals, the escapades of Jim’s escape further exhibit the conflict between romanticism and